Card sliver control



20, 1938. r J. KING ET AL 2,141,003 9 CARD SLIVER CONTROL Filed March16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l ff g v I' ML. Wh z'fien INVENTOR} Dec. 20,1938, J J. L. KING ET AL. 2,141,003

- CARD SLIVER CONTROL Filed March 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 |NVENTOR$.1711 Kim ML. Whz'ffen f WZ v ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 20, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CARD SLIVER CONTROL Application March 16,

5 Claims.

Our invention relates to a means for controlling the sliver, produced bya carding engine, so as to maintain it substantially even in thicknessor density to the end that thick and thin places may be reduced orsubstantially eliminated in the finished yard.

It is the common practice in textile mills to set the cards to producesliver of a given weight in grains per yard, which sliver is stripped inthe form of a delicate filament or web, from the full width of the cardsdofiing cylinder by the action of a vibrating comb, and is gathered intoa trumpet and thence directed between calendering rolls to a coiler headwhich feeds it in a coil into a sliver can.

It'is of very great importance to efiicient mill practice that the unitweight of the sliver should be maintained as nearly constant aspossible, but this is diflicult of attainment for many causes, such asthe action of the card itself. in causing the lap to split, or theinability of the operator accurately to join lap ends so thatoverlapped, rather than butted lap end joints result, giving double lapthickness at the overlap. Any unevenness in the sliver, arising fromthese and other causes, will be reflected throughout the entiretreatment of the yarn in the roving and spinning frames, producing thickand thin places in the finished yarn and variations in its breakingstrength, which adversely affect not only the quality of yarn itself butalso its economic conversion into Woven cloth and the like.

We have conceived that if an automatic feeler control can be devisedwhich will maintain the uniformity of the sliver, a marked improvementin the textile industry will result, and to this end we propose a feelercontrol which will be responsive to variations in the volumetric flow ofstock at some point through the cards and which will act so to modifythe operation of the card that any inequality thus detected will becomeevened out before it is reflected to any material extent in sliver ofabnormal weight.

More particularly, our invention contemplates, in its preferred form,feeling the silver itself by means which will respond to any abnormalityin the thickness, density, or weight per yard of the sliver and exert acontrol on the drive of the doffing cylinder so that the rate ofdelivery of the filament by the comb to the trumpet will be increased ordiminished so that the production of sliver of the required weight willbe rapidly reestablished and maintained.

Our invention further contemplates feeling the sliver in its passbetween the calender rolls which 1936, Serial No. 69,108

are designed and adapted to have relative displacement responsive to anabnormality in the sliver, which displacement through suitable mechanismcontrols a variable speed drive which regulates the R. P. M. of thedofiing cylinder to the end and for the purposes above described.

Our invention further contemplates passing the sliver into a groove inone of the calendering rolls in which it is felt by a complemental beadon the other calendering roll, thus adapting the sliver to be feltwithin a confined space.

Our invention further contemplates a sensitive control of the means forvarying the driving speed of the doffing cylinder, this means preferablyutilizing a valve to control by hydraulic pressure the setting of thevariable speed drive.

Our invention further comp-rises a novel Variable speed drive, theelements of which are sensitively controllable by hydraulic pressure orotherwise and which are capable of producing a substantial lowering ofthe R. P. M. of the doifing cylinder below its normal rate and anincreasing of its R. P. M. above the normal rate at least It is afurther object of our invention to accomplish the feeling and control ofthe sliver by mechanism that shall be simple in operation, of a compactnature, not unduly expensive, and so arranged as not to incumber themanipulation and control of the card.

Our invention further comprises the novel details of construction andarrangements of. parts which are hereinafter more particularly describedand claimed, and which are illustrated only in their preferredembodiment in the accompanying. drawings which form a part of thisspecification,

and in which:

Fig. 1 is an end view of the doffing cylinder and part of the maincylinderof a carding engine, the frame, coiling head, and sliver canbeing shown in dotted outline.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of the calender rolls showing thesliver in position between them, the hydraulic pressure control valve incross section, and the bearings and frame for the rolls being brokenaway.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view taken through the variablespeed drive.

Fig. 4 is a detail View of. a typical drive for the variable speed unitwith a tension takeup to care for the changes in running position of thedriving belt.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout thedrawings.

It will be understood that our present inven tion is readily adaptableto the various types of carding engines which have long been on themarket and which therefore require no detail showing beyond thatnecessary to properly corelate the novel features of our invention withthe carding engine so as to modify its action.

In the drawings we have shown in Fig. l a side frame ID of a cardingengine in which is mounted the usual main cylinder I I which rotatestherein in the direction of the arrow, being suitably driven by anydrive means, notshown. A doffing cylinder I2, mounted on a shaft I3 insuitable bearings which are not shown, is driven reversely to cylinderII by any suitable drive means.

These cylinders II and I2 are provided with the customary card clothingI4 and in their normal action cotton engaged by the clothing on the maincylinder II is transferred to the clothing on the doffing cylinder I2 bythe difference on the relative surface speeds of the cylinders at theirpoint of closest approach, and the cotton thus engaged upon the clothingof the cylinder I2 passes about under and then upwardly to the pointwhere it is engaged by the vibrating comb I5 and stripped off as a webor filament having a width corresponding to the length of the doflingcylinder I2 which is usually about 40 inches. The filament of cottonthus combed from the dofiing cylinder is gathered, its end twisted andinserted through the trumpet l6 which forms a sliver that flowscontinuously into. the pass between a pair of calendering rolls I! andI8 mounted on a.

forward extension I9 of the card frame.

These calendering rolls are usually mounted in a suitable housing 20secured to the card frame and comprising fixed end bearings 2| for thelower roll IT and at each side a rear extension 22 in which we mount onpivots 23 a movable bearing frame for the upper roll I8 adapted topermit it to swing freely upwardly while preventing any lateral cockingplay of the roll or its frame. This swinging roll frame comprises sidemembers 24 rigidly connected by an arch bar 25 (see Fig. 2) and havingbearings 25 in which the upper calendering roll I3 is journalled.

The lower calendering roll l! is shown provided with a circumferentialgroove 21 disposed opposite the delivery end of the trumpet I6 so thatit will receive the sliver 23, see Fig. 2, directly into this groove.The calendering roll It has a bead 29 which fits snugly between the sidewalls of the groove 2! and is complemental thereto or approximately so.When there is no sliver the two rolls will turn in surface contact withthe bead 29 running slightly clear of the bottom of the groove 21. Whenthe sliver enters the groove the bead will ride upon it and act afterthe fashion of a feeler that will contact the sliver continuously andwill respond to any changes in its density or size.

The frames in which the rolls I1 and I8 are mounted make suitableprovision for the mounting of clearers or wipers 3t and 3|, which areformally illustrated in Fig. 2 and as is customary are shaped to conformmore or less to the contour of their respective calendering rolls tokeep them wiped clear of lint. The sliver passes from the calenderingrolls upwardly into the rotating coiler head 32 and thence is deliveredinto the rotating can 33, all as will be understood by those familiarwith this art.

The dofling cylinder I2 may be driven in any suitable manner, the meansshown comprising a gear 35, fast on the drive shaft l3 for the cylinderl2, which meshes a small gear 36 shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1. The gear36, as shown in Fig. 3, is keyed to the inner end of a sleeve 31 that ismounted upon a stud bearing 38 rigidly secured to the shifting lever 39,which is pivoted to the frame at 40 and controlled by the cam lever 34,suitably mounted in the bracket I34 which receives the free forward endof the lever. The cam lever is customarily set to hold the gear 36 inmesh with the gear 35, which is the driving relation, but when the camlever is raised the shifting lever 39 swings down, moving the gears outof mesh and stopping the drive of the doffing cylinder.

Instead of the customary belt and pulley drive, which is employed todrive the gear 36, we substitute a variable speed drive which will bebetter understood by reference to Figs. 3 and 4 and which comprises anexpansible V-pulley formed by a pair of reversely bevelled V-pulleydisks 40 and 4|, the disk 40 being preferably formed integral with asleeve 3! having a reduced bore at its inner end that bears on the pin38. A sleeve 42 which is integral with the disk 4| telescopes with asnug fit into the bore of the sleeve 37. A coiled compression spring 43is interposed between the inner end of the sleeves 31 and 42 and tendsto press the pulley disks 40, 4| apart.

The bearing pin 38 is mounted fast in the shifting lever 39 and extendsthrough and beyond the disk 4| so as to fit into the bore 44 of a piston45 which works in a cylinder 46 carried by an outer frame member 41,which in turn is suitably bolted to a complemental frame member 43carried by a sleeve 49 which turns on the sleeve 37 and extends from thedisk 40 to the gear 36. A key 50 couples the disk sleeves 31 and 42 forjoint rotation while permitting of their relative axial play. Suitablethrust bearing elements are interposed between the piston 45 and thedisk 4|, such for instance as the bronze disk 5| and the steel disk 52which are mounted on an extension 53 of the sleeve 42. A cup washer 54is mounted on the outer end of the piston 45 and fluid pressure isadmitted to the cylinder 46 through the head 55 by means of a flexiblepipe 56. This fluid escapes from the cylinder through a nipple 51 past aneedle valve 58 into a flexible pipe 59 by means of which it is returnedto the pipe line 60 which returns it toa tank 6| from whence it is de-.livered to a constant pressure pump conveniently illustrated at 62 anddischarged by the pump through the pressure line 63 to the control valve64 above the calendering rolls. Responsive to the control of this valvethe fluid flows on through the pipe line 65 to the flexible connection56 and thence returns to the cylinder 46.

These flexible connections are necessary in order to permit the variablespeed drive mechanism to rise and fall with the shift lever 39. Toprevent rotation of, and hold the drive mechanism in correct alignment,we mount a guide bearing 66 fast on the'fioor with its upper endvertically grooved to receive and guide the web 61 on the frame member41. This arrangement leaves the frame free to rise and fall to the eX-tent necessary to engage and disengage the gears '35 and 36.

faces of this sectional pulley a V-driving belt 68 which passes about adriving pulley 69 fast on the countershaft ID that is driven by a secondV- pulley ll through a belt 12 from a pulley 13 on the shaft 14 of themain cylinder II or from any other suitable source of drive. We providedouble tension take-up pulleys l5 and 16 which engage on opposite sidesof the non-driving flight of the belt 68, being mounted upon a rockerframe Tl so pivoted at 18 so as to be counter-balanced and effectivelytake up the large amount of slack that arises in connection with thevariable speed control of the pulley sections 46, 4|.

When pressure rises in the cylinder 46 it will press the head 45inwardly, compress spring 43, and force the pulley section 4| toward thesection 46. This squeezes the running V-belt 68 outwardly away from thepulley axis and thus reduces the driving speed transmitted throughsleeve 31 to the gear 36. When the pressure falls in the cylinder 46,the spring 43 tends to open the V-pulley sections and as 4! separatesfrom 40 the belt 68 will gradually work inwardly toward the axis of thepulley thereby increasing the R. P. M. of the drive. The design of partsis such that in its normal running position the belt '68 will produce apredetermined R. P. M. for the dofling cylinder l2 and will allow of alimited displacement of the belt outwardly to slow up the cylinder l2and such a movement of the belt inwardly as will produce a full 100%increase above normal R. P. M. of cylinder I2.

The control of the pressure in the cylinder 46 must be positive and yetdelicate and we propose to regulate this pressure in the manner whichwill now be described by reference to- Fig. 2, wherein the valve body 64is shown set in its correct preferred relation to the frame 25, beinghere disposed at right angles to the showing of it in Fig. 1. The pipe63 delivers fluid under constant pressure to the valve body 64 whichfluid passes through a restricted port 86 into a cylindrical valvechamber ill in which a piston valve 82 works with a close fit, beingheld against rotation by means of the eccentric pin 33 inserted througha bleeder hole 84 in the valve cylinder head.

A stuffing box 85 surrounds the stem 86 of the valve which has arestricted port Bl leading therethrough and normally standing in abouthalf register with the port 80, but always being in full register with alarge outlet port 88 leading to the outlet pipe 65. A coil spring 90surrounds the stem 86 and bears against a lock nut 9| screwed on thestem 86 and adapted to hold, in adjusted position on the stem, a roundednut 92 which bears on the center of the yoke arm 25 above the sliverfeeling bead 29 on the upper calender roll.

The valve 62 is set so that a predetermined flow of the fluid from theconstant pressure source 63 will flow into the pipe 65 and thencethrough the cylinder 46 and past the needle valve 58 which is set topermit this predetermined volumetric flow. If the roll I8, in responseto its feeling of the sliver 28, be raised by an increase in the size ordensity of the sliver, it will raise the roll I6 proportionately andcause the yoke arms 25 to force the valve 82 upwardly thereby reducingthe volumetric flow into the pipe 65. This reduction of flow, withoutchange at the needle valve 58, will cause a proportional drop inpressure in the cylinder 46 and thereupon, acting responsive to thespring 43, the v-pulle tions 40, 41 will separate, permiting the V-belt68 to work its way in closer to the pulley center and thus increase theR. P. M. of the gear 36,

the drive is reached. As the arm 25 is lowered by such reduction in sizeor density of the sliver, the valve 82 drops, the volumetric flow from63 to 65 increases and, needle valve 58 being unchanged, pressure willbuild up in cylinder 46 until it forces the piston 45 inwardly andpresses the V-pulley sections 46 and 4! together, so as to displace thedriving belt outwardly from the pulley center and slow up its speed.This permits the doffing cylinder to take off a greater amount of cottonper R. P. M. from the constant speed main cylinder H and restores thesliver to its normal weight per lineal yard.

This sliver weight per lineal yard usually runs from 30 to '70 grainsand the elements heretofore described can be set and adjusted to producea speed for the doffing roll that will under normal conditions give thedesired weight in grains per yard in sliver. When abnormal sliver isfelt by the roll l8 the reaction of the control mechanism is almostimmediate and a change in speed of the doifing cylinder is effected soquickly that but little disturbance in the evenness of the sliver willresult.

It being the practice to use the weight in grains per lineal yard as aconvenient measure for sliver, such will be referred to hereinafter asits unit weight.

It is to be understood that out invention in its broadest aspectcontemplates feeling the cotton in its traverse of the carding machineand, wherever the feeler is placed, transmitting a regulating functionto some element of the machine which will accelerate or decelerate theflow of the cotton at the control point so as to even out. and maintainsubstantially constant the resultant sliver. We prefer to feel thesliver itself and to effect its control at the delivery end of the card.

While we have shown our invention in but one form, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptibleof various changes and modifications, without departing from the spiritthereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall beplaced thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specificallyset forth in the appended claims.

What We claim is:---

1. In a carding engine, coacting elements for advancing the stock undertreatment, hydraulic pressure means to give one of said elements agradually variable speed drive so that its speed relative to otherelements can be varied infinitely within a predetermined range, andfeeler mechanism acting on the stock under treatment and sensitive tovariations in its volumetric flow, said variable speed element beingcontrolled automatically by said feeler mechanism so as to maintain theunit weight of the sliver substantially constant.

2. The combination with the dofling cylinder of a carding engine and itscalendering rolls, of valve controlling mechanism sensitive tovariations in the unit weight of the sliver, separable V-pulley elementshaving a driving connection with the doffing cylinder, a V-driving beltworking between said pulley elements, a hydraulic 15 cylinder having apiston and means controlled thereby to regulate the spacing between thepulley elements, and means responsive to said valve for controlling thehydraulic pressure in said cylinder.

3. The combination with the dofling cylinder and calendering rolls of acarding engine, of a mounting for the upper calendering roll whichpermits vertical play thereof, a valve engaging said mounting andmovable therewith responsive to variations in the sliver, means todeliver substantially constant fluid pressure to one side of the valve,a cylinder into which the fluid pressure passing the valve is delivered,a valve set toregulate the escape of the hydraulic fluid pressure fromsaid cylinder, a piston in said cylinder movable responsive tovariations in fluid pressure therein, separable V-pulley elementsrelatively adjustable by said piston, a driving belt engaged between theseparable pulley faces, and a driving connection between said pulley andthe dofling cylinder.

4. The combination with the shift lever of a carding engine controllingits doifing cylinder drive, of a sectional V-pulley mounted to rotate onsaid lever, a hydraulic motor mounted on the lever and operative tocontrol the relative position of the pulley sections, a driving beltengaged between the relatively separable pulley elements and havingsuitable tension take-up means, a driving element for the doffingcylinder driven by said pulley, feeler' means working on the sliver, andvalve means sensitively responsive to said feeler means and adapted tocontrol said hydraulic motor and regulate the spacing'of the pulleysections, as and for the purposes described.

5. In a carding engine, coacting carding elements, one having asubstantially constant speed, means to drive the other at a variablespeed thereby to modify the'rate of stock flow past it, and feelermechanism acting on the sliver to control the functioning of saidvariable speed element and comprising means to control the rate of flowof a fluid stream under pressure to vary by hydraulic pressure the rateof drive of the variable speed element.

NOAH LAWSON WHI'ITEN. JOHN LINDLEY KING.

